The purchase of personal property, and specifically vehicles such as automobiles, motorcycles and boats, is generally accomplished by the consumer financing the purchase through a personal loan system. In such a circumstance, the purchaser borrows money from a financial or lending institution, takes title to the vehicle and pays the loan balance in monthly installments, which amortize the full amount of the loan. The financial institution typically retains a lien interest against the title of the vehicle and the loan is secured by a chattel mortgage thereon. Thus, the vehicle is used as collateral for the loan. The financial institution may confiscate or repossess the vehicle upon a default condition of the loan, as agreed to by the purchaser or as provided at law. Due to the mobile nature of a vehicle, however, it is often difficult for the financial institution to locate the vehicle for repossession. Further, when a purchaser of a vehicle knows he is in default of the loan, the purchaser will attempt to evade repossession by moving the vehicle to locations unbeknownst to the financial institution.
When a purchaser in default evades repossession of the vehicle, the repossession process can become costly for the financial or lending institution. The financial or lending institution may hire a third party repossession agent and/or an investigative service agency to assist in locating and recovering the vehicle.
Devices have been designed and deployed to assist financial or lending institutions with the repossession of personal property such as vehicles. Most of these devices are electronic devices that are affixed to the vehicle to act as a homing beacon or global positioning system (GPS) module. Thus, whenever vehicle repossession is deemed necessary, the homing device can be activated or the GPS module used to determine a present location of the collateral. This methodology is ineffective, however, if the purchaser of the vehicle frequently changes the location of the vehicle.
Further, devices have been designed to disable a vehicle whose owner has defaulted on a loan. These devices, however, do not take into sufficient consideration that a vehicle could be disabled in an area lacking cellular network coverage. For example, if a vehicle is moving in an area covered by a cellular network when its starter is disabled, the vehicle may not be stopped and disabled until it has moved into an area not covered by a cellular network. In this instance, the institution attempting to repossess the vehicle will have difficulty determining the vehicle's location. Further, if a loan payment is made on the disabled vehicle, the financial institution will have difficulty re-enabling the vehicle if it cannot utilize the wireless network.
Thus, a need exists for a system, method and/or apparatus to assist the financial or lending institution in repossessing a vehicle when the vehicle owner defaults on the loan payments. A need also exists for a system, method and/or apparatus for disabling and enabling a vehicle that takes into consideration the vehicle's access to a cellular network.